Ok, so maybe the Utah Democrats aren't so bad...

Yeah, yeah, I said what is abundantly clear to just about any objective political observer. The Utah Democrats, for their strategic and tactical failures, poor candidate recruitment and training, and, recently, their refusal to mount a serious objection to EnergySolutions' proposed nuclear waste dump (though, to the Dems' credit, I didn't seen any EnergySolutions banners at this year's state convention), for all our problems, at least Democrats aren't overrun by what can only be characterized as clinical nutjobs.

First, Research 2000 comes out with a poll that shows that 58% of Republicans either don't believe that, or are unsure about whether, Barack Obama is an American citizen. Seriously. 58%.

Of course, Research 2000 conducted a national poll. So, you'd think that in this state, home to the largest repository of genealogical resources in the world, the Mormon Republicans would buck the party trend and be forced to acknowledge that the State of Hawaii's Department of Health's final word on Obama's birth is definitive.

Think again.

Along comes Paul Rolly, beloved by rational minds across this state, to put the lie to any notion that Utah Republicans are exempt from the pathological hysteria sweeping their party.

According to Rolly:

"Right-wing pundits in Utah who still are passing around the debunked theory that President Barack Obama doesn't have a legitimate birth certificate have a dilemma. Many of them claim allegiance to the LDS Church and try to tie their political agendas to church doctrine....

So let's see how far they keep pushing this "birther" theory -- and according to e-mails and blog links I get every day, they are not letting up -- now that the LDS Church has researched Obama's lineage and presented him with the gift of his family's genealogy." [hyperlink to the LDS Newsroom page inserted by me]


Finally, we have KSL's Doug Wright taking about 'birthers' on his (moderate?) radio show. My favorite comment:

"Hey, if you want to be 'ignorant' enough to believe people handing out forged birth certificates, and certificates they claim are birth certificates (certificate of live birth is usually given to someone NOT born in the 50 states)...if you want to believe someone you don't know saying they have seen it but won't produce it, so be it.
Meanwhile, intelligent people will ask for proof."



So, the next time I complain about what the party on my voter registration is or isn't doing in this state, please remind of what the alternatives are.